New hotels expected to loosen Victoria's lodging logjam

Lodging options are on the rise with multiple hotels planning to call Victoria home.

The city of Victoria has already approved a plat and site plan for a 64-room Days Inn at 6203 Dairy Road, said Monica Leal, development coordinator for the City of Victoria. Meanwhile, a plat was approved and a site plan is under review for a proposed 109-room Courtyard by Marriott at 8002 N. Navarro St.

Elsewhere in town, construction is already under way on two incoming hotels - a Homewood Suites at 6705 N. E. Zac Lentz Parkway and a Hilton Garden Inn at 123 Huvar St.

Homewood Suites, slated to open by March, will offer 109 suite-style rooms, said Noel Salinas, CEO of Castle Hospitality. Amenities include a pool, fitness center, meeting rooms and sport court.

The Hilton Garden Inn, expected to open about the same time, will offer 123 rooms, Dawn Ray, the company's director of public relations, said. Its amenities include a pool, meeting facilities, fitness center and full restaurant and bar.

The infusion of about 500 rooms within a 12 to 18-month period caused a stir in Victoria's lodging industry, LaRue Roth, director of the Victoria Convention and Visitors Bureau, said at Tuesday morning's Victoria Partnership meeting. Businesses offering rooms at premium pricing, she said, must soon become more competitive.

Already, she said, somewhat lower prices have emerged.

Rooms average about $160 per night Monday through Thursday, she said, while some groups coming in for a November golf tournament would pay about $110 at one hotel. Yet another hotel, on Houston Highway, offered a block of rooms for an upcoming event at $89 per night.

Although some seemed concerned the influx of rooms will hurt business, Roth said the demand was there. Oftentimes, she said, the city finds itself turning away companies due to a lack of rooms.

O.C. Garza, the city's communications director, called the influx "a light at the end of the tunnel."

"We're looking forward to it," he said at the meeting. "We've had to turn away a lot of business."